


Arrow

by That_random_weirdo



Series: The Great Kinej Marathon [1]
Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I promise, PTSD, only a little bit of angst, past trama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 00:03:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18173189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/That_random_weirdo/pseuds/That_random_weirdo
Summary: Inej returns to Ketterdam after the events of CK to visit her favorite criminal mastermind.





	Arrow

**Author's Note:**

> I needed something soft and fluffy after my last post. And thus, this was born. Enjoy.

Inej perched on the railing of her ship, docked in a Ketterdam port. She was back in the city of her suffering. But could she ever truly leave? A part of her would always be tied to the Barrel, and the life she had lived within its borders.  
She was free. She was caught. She left, the returned again. She had both a reason to leave and a reason to stay. And she was here to see that reason.  
The heart was like an arrow. It demands aim to land true. The path of her heart’s aim had brought her back. And she didn’t regret it for a single moment.  
Inej crept over the unchanged rooftops with a touch of wistful melancholy as she recalled her time with the Dregs. It seemed odd that she would miss constant danger. But wasn’t constant danger what she loved the most? Whether she was rope walking high above the heads of an anxious crowd, or climbing into buildings knowing she was risking death, it seemed that she could never stay away from a challenge.  
She reached a painfully familiar building. It was a plain, seemingly innocuous thing. Yet it held the reason for her unexpected visit.  
Picking the lock on the window, Inej clambered into a small, stark office. Kaz had his back to her, but Inej knew that, like always, he was somehow aware of her presence. She saw it in the set of his shoulders, in the stiffening of his spine. She saw it in the subtle movement of his fingers, and in the tilt of his head. He turned to face her, obsidian eyes glinting with dark humor, just as intense and focused as ever.  
Breaking in to see a thief. How ironic.  
He was as unreadable as ever. Nonetheless, Inej thought she saw a momentary flash of relief flit across his face.  
“Wraith. You’ve returned.” His raspy voice was more comforting than it should have been.  
“So I have,” she replied simply, careful challenge hidden amongst the words. What do you intend to do now?  
Kaz stood abruptly, striding over to his bed and seating himself on the edge. Inej joined him, settling at a comfortable distance, meeting his inscrutable gaze as evenly as she could. They sat in silence, neither one daring to look away.  
The first brush of fingers against her hand had her glancing down in surprise, then back up at Kaz. He was carefully gauging her reaction, stiff and alert at his side, gloves clenched tight in his other hand.  
She smiled, and laced his bare fingers with her own.  
It wasn’t easy. She had to repress the urge to flinch or worse, and knew that Kaz was surely doing the same.  
But they would make it work, just like they always did.  
\-------------  
Kaz stilled as Inej crept through his window. He turned around,slow and measured, and saw her silhouetted against the dying light of the sun, like a painting of perfection come to life. His breath caught in his throat before he could speak, words dying on his tongue.  
Kaz schooled his features into neutrality. Beautiful or not, she was just another weak point he had to rid himself of.  
But he didn’t want to get rid of her. He couldn’t.  
“Wraith. You’ve returned.” It wasn’t what he wanted to say. But he wouldn’t let himself say anything more for fear of ruining all the tenous progress they had made through the letters they had exchanged since she left.  
“So I have.” He heard the challenge in her voice, but deigned not to answer. At least not directly.  
Kaz stood, walking purposefully to the edge of his meager bed. Inej joined him a moment later, cautiously distant. She was right to be cautious of him.  
Cautious was how you survived.  
He held her gaze, quietly slipping of his gloves while she was distracted. His heart pounded as he finally threw caution to the wind and casually brushed his fingers against her burnt-caramel skin in a feather-light touch.  
He braced himself as the images began to flow, unbidden. The stench of death filled his nostrils. He was touching the hands of a corpse, skin gray with rot, fingers bent and bloated. He was drowning in a sea of bodies, twisted grotesquely as they came apart. He was clinging to the empty husk of his dead brother as he struggled to stay afloat in deep waters.  
But Inej was by his side, warm and solid and alive beneath his fingertips. He could feel the frantic pounding of her pulse, hear the quiet hitch in her breathing, see her forcing herself not to pull away just as much as he was and the knowledge that she was simply there comforted him. Kaz struggled to keep his breathing steady, struggled to keep the memories at bay. He looked up from where their hands were entwined, her thumb brushing the scar that ran across the backs of his knuckles, focusing on her expectant face.  
The memories were strong.  
Her presence was stronger.  
All this was was another fight, another battle. One that they would be in together, just like so many before.  
He would not give in, not now when it mattered so much. He would always come for her, no matter what, and he knew that she would do the same for him. They would fight through their pasts together.  
And when the inevitable happened and it all caught up with them, together they would fall.

**Author's Note:**

> Love it? Hate it? Tell me in the comments! (Please be nice)


End file.
